


HISHH (How it Should Have Happened)

by Aprilmallick



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Avengers (2012), Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric, possible pre-stony if you squint, they all live happily in the tower, you cant change my mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 02:37:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19219861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aprilmallick/pseuds/Aprilmallick
Summary: Based off my (mostlystuckony's) post: In The Avengers when Tony flies to Stark Tower to face Loki, (alone, and without his armour) he tells Loki about the Avengers. "Sort of like a team," he says. But he doesn't include himself in it.What happens when the team finds out?





	HISHH (How it Should Have Happened)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this used to be in Mostlystuckony's Tumblr Prompts. I moved it because it technically was not a prompt.

“Tony,” Steve said, from the doorway of Tony’s workshop, “we want to talk to you about something.”

Tony barely looked up from his work station where he was reparing Dum-E for the upteenth time. “Yeah? Looks like you’re the only one here. Who’s ‘we’?”

“Come upstairs with me.” Steve said. He hesitated. “Please. We just want to talk.”

“I’m busy Cap. Go away.”

Steve came a little closer. “You never call me by my first name.” He noted, frowning. “Or any of us.”

Tony finally looked up. “Just … come back later. I don’t have time for this team bonding crap you’re clearly trying to pull. I’m giving all of you whatever you need. Just say thanks and leave it at that.”

His stomach churned at the thought of seeing them. The Avengers. Which, technically, he wasn’t part of anymore now that the emergency was over.

“Tony,” Steve tried, “the team just wants to-”

Yeah,  _the_  team. Not his team. Tony doesn’t have one, he works alone. If only it didn’t hurt so damn much, after knowing what being part of a team felt like.

“-make sure you’re okay. You faced off against Loki alone and flew a missile into space. We’re worried about you. We’ve barely seen you since you invited us to move in.”

Yeah  _right_ , the team was worried about him, Tony thought bitterly. If anything, they were worried he’d kick them out or stop making them pretty new toys.

Steve didn’t seem to want to leave him alone. “Jarvis, when’s the last time Tony ate?”

“It has been approaching approximately 16 hours and twenty-nine minutes since Sir last ingested anything of substance.” The AI said smugly.

Tony glared up at the ceiling. “It’s fine, Cap.” He said appeasingly. “I’ve gone much longer. I have another couple of hours before I start feeling shaky.”

Steve frowned severely at him. “No, Tony. That’s not healthy. You’re coming up and eating some food. We really need to discuss something with you.”

Tony really didn’t want to, but Cap seemed firm on the matter. Putting down his screwdriver and giving his robot child a good-bye pat, he followed the super-soldier upstairs to the common floor.

Every one was already gathered, Bruce making food in the kitchen, talking with Thor who was laughing uproriously at something the scientist had said.

Clint and Natasha were in the living room watching some fantasy show, both looking very confusedly at the screen as if they had no idea why they were watching it in the first place.

When they caught sight of Steve and Tony Natasha quickly turned it off, which seemed rather ominous.

Steve steered to genius to the two-seater couch. He handed Tony a glass of water, sat down next to him, and stared at him pointedly until he took a tiny sip.

“Here.” Bruce shoved a plate of tofu stir-fry onto his lap.

“Ah … thanks, Brucie.” Tony wasn’t the biggest fan of tofu, but he’d try it for his science bro’s sake. He took a bite, finding that to his surprise, it was actually delicious.

Everyone settled into seats, watching Tony eat. (He was actually pushing the food around his plate more than actually eating. They were making him nervous.)

“So … you guys got me.” he said finally, breaking the rather awkward silence. “You can talk to me while I eat, you know.”

“Fine, but you need to actually eat, not just sit there with food on your lap,” Steve said sternly, fixing him with a glare.

Tony pointedly took another bite of the stir-fry.

“We saw the footage.” Natasha said finally.

Tony choked for a second, before taking a sip of water. “The footage of what?”

Please don’t say my sex tape, he prayed.

“Your conversation with Loki.” Bruce said.

“Ah, that.” Tony said dismissively. Then he stiffened. “Why, did I say something to him that I shouldn’t have?”

“No.” Steve hesitated. “You just … what you said to him was great. Speech worthy of me, actually.”

Clint snorted at the same time as Tony.

“But you told him about us, The Avengers. You called us a team. But when you were going through the list of people he’d pissed off, you didn’t include yourself.”

Tony’s throat went dry. He hadn’t even noticed at the time, he’d thought his presence alone made it obvious that he was out for blood. After the fact, reviewing the footage, he was glad he skipped over himself. That way he had no illusions about being part of the team once Loki was dealt with. He wasn’t really in The Avengers. The words “not recommended” swam in his vision.

“I-”

“Were you not as saddened by son of Coul’s death as we were?” Thor boomed. It wasn’t in an accusatory way, Thor just didn’t quite have the hang of regulating his inside voice yet.

Tony was feeling a little defensive anyways. “Of course I was! What was I-”

“You know you’re part of the team, right Tony?” Clint asked quietly.

Tony stopped talking abruptly. For a second there was dead silence. He took another bite of food before replying.

“No I’m not.”

Bruce frowned. “Tony-”

“I’m not!” Tony snapped, putting his plate down. He tried to get up, but Cap put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to stay seated.

"Why d'you think that you’re not one of us?” Steve asked quietly.

“Because of her!” Tony said, glaring at Natasha, who stiffened. “Tony Stark - not recommended. That’s what you said, right? I might be The Avenger’s consultant, but I’m not one of you. Fury wouldn’t allow it.”

“Well this isn’t Fury’s team, it’s mine.” Steve said.

Natasha cut him off. “Tony. You have no idea how much I regret writing that. I didn’t know that you were dying at the time, and after sacrificing yourself for the world, you clearly proved me wrong.”

“Dying?” Steve demanded, but Natasha cut him off again.

“Either way, no matter who’s team it is.” She glanced at Steve, who was looking very agitated. “I changed my recommendation two days after the battle. You  _are_  one of us.”

Tony slumped back, his head spinning at the sudden revelation. “I-I am?”

“Indeed, you are a worthy shield brother!” Thor said enthusiastically. Then his expression dimmed a bit. “We were not aware that you felt apart from us.”

“Tony.” Clint said gently, “we all saw you fly that nuke into the sky. That was- that was really brave of you. None of us had any doubt you were part of the team after that.”

“Except for me.” Tony muttered, more to himself then to them.

“Do you get it now?” Bruce asked softly.

Tony looked up at Clint. “You really think I’m brave?”

“We all do.” Steve informed him. “And we all know that you’re not actually a selfish arrogant, asshole, now too.”

“I- wow.” Tony didn’t know what to say. No one had ever told him that before except for Rhodey. Not even Pepper.

“So will you stop hiding in your workshop and spend some time with us occasionally?” Steve asked.

Tony looked around at everyone looking hopefully at him. They actually … wanted his presence. How strange. “I guess so.” He said finally.

Clint punched the air victoriously. “Yes! Movie night! At least weekly. Tony, want to pick the first movie?”

Tony smiled. “Oh hell yes. Cap, Thor, you guys seen Star Wars yet?”


End file.
